Latest up in the manipulating-themselves-into-trouble sweepstakes is Harper’s, whose digitally altered cover photo of U.S. marines that illustrates an article on desertion. Media Bistro has this:
Harper’s to Clarify Altered Marine Photo (AP via S.F. Sun-Sentinel): Harper’s says it plans to run a clarification after receiving complaints about a photo illustration of several Marines, including one from West Virginia, that appears on the cover of the March issue with a headline promoting an article about deserters.
Dennis Dunlevy, whom I’ve just discovered, has a good take on the issue, which includes this:
Despite the fact that Harper’s is planning a clarification in it’s next issue, I get the feeling of a “No Big Deal” defense often used by those not willing to come to terms with a lapse of ethical and journalistic judgment. Using real people to illustrate a concept that electronically transports meaning from the literal to the figurative may be construed as misleading and deceptive.
It’s just not cool to use images out of context and manipulate them, even if it may be artistic.
(While you’re at Dennis’s site, check out his photo album for some very nice photojournalism.)
TECHNORATI TAGS: PHOTOJOURNALISM, ETHICS, MANIPULATION
